Shugendo
Shugendō (also spelled Shugendo) can be loosely translated as "path of training to achieve spiritual powers." Shugendō evolved during the 7th century from an amalgamation of beliefs, philosophies, doctrines and ritual systems drawn from local folk-religious practices, pre-Buddhist mountain worship, Shinto, Taoism and esoteric Buddhism. Practitioners combine these in the hope of achieving magical skills, medical powers, and long life. Unfortunately it is not easy to get info about it from english sources, so this page will be rather short. The 7th century ascetic and mystic En no Gyōja (also known as en no ozuno) is widely considered as the patriarch of Shugendō, having first organized Shugendō as a doctrine. Shugendō literally means "the path of training and testing" or "the way to spiritual power through discipline." Strangely, shugendo seems to be something that the neutral path in SMTI is heavily based on. En no ozuno its founder shows up as one of the main neutral supernatural figures residing in the diamond realm, and the outfit in the healing dojo seems to be based on the yamabushi outfit worn by them. Since the diamond realm comes back in iva as a base used by steven to interact with different worlds it seems that this association carries over into most of the mainline games. Its not clear what makes shugendo a heavy basis in general for neutral other than that east asian religions are already, being syncretic it can represent multiple influences, and the practice it emphasized could be stretched to imply the need for humans to become super human rather than merely rely on outside forces. Some of these are a stretch however, and the association is left ambiguous. Shugendo also has an element of direct nature worship which they might be passing off as a proto humanist slant. Yamabushi (one who prostrates himself on the mountain) are Japanese mountain ascetic hermits that followed shugendo, and who, according to a traditional Japanese mysticism, are believed to be endowed with supernatural powers. In modern use, the term ubasoku-yamabushi refers to laymen practitioners of shugendō. Most of these ascetics, in addition to their devotion to shugendō, studied the teachings of the Tendai sect of Buddhism, or the Shingon sect, established by Kōbō Daishi in the 8th century. Shingon Buddhism was one of the primary sects of mikkyō or Esoteric Buddhism, according to which enlightenment is found through isolation, and the study and contemplation of oneself, as well as nature, and esoteric images called mandala. Both the Shingon sect and the Tendai viewed mountains as the ideal place for this sort of isolation and contemplation of nature. In their mountain retreats, these monks studied not only nature and religious/spiritual texts and images, but also a variety of martial arts. Whether they felt they had to defend themselves from bandits, other monks, or samurai armies is questionable, but the idea of studying martial arts as a means to improve oneself mentally and spiritually, not just physically, has always been central to Japanese culture, beyond the specific tenets of one religious sect or another. Thus, like the sōhei, the yamabushi became warriors as well as monks. Sokushinbutsu refers to a practice of Buddhist monks observing Asceticism to the point of death and entering mummification while alive. This was practiced by shugendo practitioners as well as some buddhists of other sects. This was not seen as suicide by them, but as a transformative ability to transcend one's human limitations in order to better be able to help others. The demon Daisojou who shows up in various games is based on this practice. This is rather interesting, since this would be an overt example of what nietzsche would consider the epitome of a life denying activity. Yet is a feature of a tradition that the games seem to make a core aspect of neutral. En no Ozuno, also known as Also called En-no-Gyoja was a partially mythical figure born in Yamato no Kuni (present Nara prefecture) in the era of the emperor Jomei. He was seen as wise in his childhood, pursued for classical books, through knowledge of the doctrine and mastered Sanpou (the law of Buddha, the laws, the priest). Later, he practiced ascetic training in Mt. Ikoma in Yamato (present Nara) and, in Mt. Kumano in Kii(present Wakayama prefecture), he climbed Mt. Katsuragi and enshrined Kujaku Myoo and practiced ascetic training, which was said to have given him various supernatural powers. He also worshipped Kuzuryu, as a deity protecting Buddhism, and Kuni-no-Tokotachi, who has most of his shrines associated with the Shugendô religion. In SMTI En no Ozuno shows up as the leader of the diamond realm, a place the heroes ended up after the first arc is over. He is depicted as a neutral figure, who helps them, and then sends them back to earth. He shows up again in IVA with the diamond realm seemingly used as a base by steven from which to interact with multiple worlds Zenki and goki are two servants of en no ozuno who are husband and wife. Two yôkai demons he controlled, in a way reminiscent of King Solomon, getting them to repent and become his servants. In SMTI they show up working for en no ozuno in the diamond realm. Zaou-Gongen is one of the most important mountain deities of Japan's syncretic Shugendou sects. After the arrival of Buddhism to Japan in the mid-6th century, the native Shinto Kami were soon considered manifestations of the imported Buddhist divinities. Zao serves as the protector deity of sacred Mt. Kimpusen Japan's Nara prefecture and is considered the local Japanese Shinto manifestation of three Buddhist divinities -- the Historical Buddha (Sakya), Kannon Bodhisattva (Kanzeon), and Miroku Buddha (Maitreya), who serve respectively as the Buddhas of the Past, Present, and Future. This makes Zaou perhaps the most powerful local divinity of religious mountain worship in Japan. In persona 4 his description says "Repeller of evil found by En-no-Ozonu at Kinpusen. Believed to be a fusion of Buddha, Guanyin and Maitreya, a god who originated from Japan rather than Buddhavacana." Despite his importance to shugeno, and appearing as a demon, there doesn't appear to be any overt relation between him and the neutral side. Other Gods. Shudando evolved its own object of worship called KongōZaō Gongen, but in addition to this various other deities are also worshiped, including natural phenomena such as sun, moon and stars/planets, various Buddhist divinities and the kami of Shinto. Overall, however, practice focuses on the cosmic buddha Dainichi Nyorai and its "disciplinary manifestation (kyōryō rinshin)" as Fudō Myōō (demon-quelling form with scowling countenance), and ritual practices likewise focus on the adept's visualizing his unification with the deity Fudō Myōō. Tengu are a type of legendary creature found in Japanese folk religion and are also considered a type of Shinto god (kami) or yōkai (supernatural beings). Although they take their name from a dog-like Chinese demon (Tiangou), the tengu were originally thought to take the forms of birds of prey, and they are traditionally depicted with both human and avian characteristics. The earliest tengu were pictured with beaks, but this feature has often been humanized as an unnaturally long nose, which today is widely considered the tengu's defining characteristic in the popular imagination. Buddhism long held that the teng''u'' were disruptive demons and harbingers of war. Their image gradually softened, however, into one of protective, if still dangerous, spirits of the mountains and forests. Tengu are associated with the ascetic practice of Shugendō, and they are usually depicted in the garb of its followers, the yamabushi. Tengu in game aren't strongly associated with neutral. Many of them strangely are jewish in appearance, though the meaning behind this is unknown. If its meant to imply that many are japanese incarnations of angels, nothing is really specifies implying this in game aside from these designs.